03/03/2005

RIP Charles Martin, Who Made The Dirtiest Play Ever In NFL History

Chicago Tribune reporter David Haugh on the infamous play by Green bay packers defensive tackle Charles Martin, who passed away in January:

Martin took the field that Sunday afternoon on Nov. 23, 1986, wearing a towel displaying the numbers of three Bears offensive stars--9, 34, 83--McMahon, Walter Payton and Willie Gault, respectively, plus 63 and 29 for Jay Hilgenberg and Dennis Gentry. In Bears-Packers lore, the numbers scrawled on the towel will always be known as "the hit list."

After Packers safety Mark Lee intercepted a McMahon pass in the second quarter of a game eventually won 12-10 by the Bears, Martin grabbed McMahon from behind and body-slammed him to the ground.

"It was at least 20 seconds after the interception," said Jerry Markbreit, a retired NFL official who worked the game. "I don't think he had an awareness of how late it was, or that the play was over. McMahon was walking to the sideline, had relaxed, and he picked him up and smashed him to the ground."

Markbreit worked 461 NFL games over 23 years. He had never been so shocked by a player's action. To that point in league history, no player had ever been thrown out of a game for anything but a fight.

But Markbreit, bothered by the severity of the hit and a little concerned Bears players "might kill" Martin, ejected the defensive tackle and escorted him off the field. Markbreit's decision ultimately cost Martin a two-game suspension and $15,000 fine.

Comments

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seriously? what Charles Martin was disgusting!!! Of course it's an aggressive game and emotions run high. Players do things in the heat of the play,it is an aggressive sport and let's not pretend that dirty hits don't happen, but, that was an embarrassing moment for the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay is a classy organization and they can not be blamed for the actions of a player such as Martin....but Gregg as a coach was a despicable individual!!! Football is a great sport, and the Norris division is filled with some of the greatest teams ever!!!! Vikes, Bears,Packers!!!! It makes for great competitive football, there is nothing better than gathering around a tv on a sunday afternoon to watch the Bear Packer rivalry....but when it comes to dirty playing that is tolerated by a coach and an organization, all I can say is WRONG!!!!!

I watched that game while in my college dorm room and remember it vividly. The TV play commentators all speculated that the towel was a hit list even before the play happened. They even commented on how unnecessarily rough Martin was as a player in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTLlaMY_9PM

You can even see Martin hesitate, look down field, then deliberately commit this felony. He should have been arrested and tried for assault. At the very least he should have been banned from ever playing again. I concur with another on this play being the deciding factor for hating GBP!

The latest thing I've heard on Jim McMahon is that he is suffering significant memory loss attributed to hits taken while playing. I'm sure this dirty hit did contribute to his current problems.

The team that Bart Starr built was no longer present with Forrest Greg. A total cheap shot by Charles Martin. Disgraceful. Classless, representing the worst football has to offer. One terrible move does not represent a whole team full of class acts like Reggie White, Bart Starr, etc. All the quality players that Green Bay had under Starr left. Lofton, Jefferson, Butler, etc.. I remember watching Gregg run Eddy Lee Ivery into the ground on a pre-season game; childish antics are a disgrace for any football team. Martin takes the cake..but so did Saul. Forgiveness is what Sunday is about. Lombardi didn't put football ahead of family, or God. Grow up Packer and Bears fans, true players like Payton and Reggie White is what we need in this world, and more in the NFL. Once the Packers start calling themselves a religion, they fall apart. The same thing happened to the Bears. The Packers shot themselves in the foot, this year by not adjusting for Cruz; The Bears fell apart by not trusting their backups. The Redskins were more focused than any other team that year; Doug Williams rocked.

No insult meant to Marcus, but C Martin was a dirty player, even moreso than the Raiders players of teh 70's. He should have been kicked out for the season if not for good. Hey, people have murderers in their families and have to find a way to remember them in a positive light, so you are no different, faithful to your family but that does not diminish what a dirty guy Charles was. He died of kidney failure, I assume having something to do with steroid use, which explains why he was such a bad guy.

Dara Quinn you referred to Jim McMahon as "one of the greatest QBs of all time" What a joke! I've been to the Hall of Fame and I don't recall seeing him anywhere. He'd have trouble cracking my 100 greatest QBs of all time.

I watched that game also, and despite what his nephew has concocted, not only did he hit him grossly late, but he made sure he(when he grabbed him) pinned his arms to his body and slammed him on what was well known as McMahon's bad shoulder... This guy was a jackass period.

As the Bears are preparing to meet the Packers, my daughters boyfriend asked me about that hit as he was born in 1988 I remember that game vividly. First, my condolences to Martins family. Whether he was fighting demons or not, it was a cheap shot. He had numbers on the towel. The comment that it was a touch list is unbelievable. You may also want to remember that after a sack of McMahon in 1985, he punched McMahon. Look it up on you tube. He was a cheap shot artist during the game of football no matter what he was like in real life. I blame the Packers coach Forrest Greg as well.

I hope your Uncle did try to change his life, there was no doubt it was cheap disgusting shot. It contributed to shortening a great career, he should have been banned from football forever. Even Butkus as mean a player they said he was,
would not do what your Uncle did. I was not at the game but was watching on tv and that was the longest 2-3 seconds I have ever seen. I never thought about it but it would have fun to leave him in and watch the bears players break his legs or more.

This Bear fan says what's the big deal here? Charles Martin did nothing that any other self-disrespecting loser and failure as a football player wouldn't do...take a cheap shot on a winner when he's incapable of anything better.

I was more upset that Markbreit kicked Martin out of the game. LEAVE HIM IN!!!!! Imagine the lost entertainment value of what would have followed. The Nielsen ratings would have soared through the stratosphere in Chicago.

Ah well, at least we Bears fans got the consolation prize of seeing the look on the face of Packer QB Randy Wright as he stepped up under center on the first Packer offensive play after the hit, while Singletary, Dent, McMichael and Hampton stared him down with what looked like ants in their pants before the snap. As the American Express ad would say, priceless!!!

One other thing. Whatever we might say about cheap shot loser Charles Martin, who at the time definitely wanted to be remembered that way (which he always will be), don't forget he wasn't the only one. It all goes back to their coach at the time, Forrest Gregg. He was actively fomenting this sort of thing, as was clear not only from his comments to the media during and after game week, but also from his demeanor on the sidelines during the games in question. But in the end he was only doing the coaching version of what Martin was doing on the field, pushing cheap shots because he was incapable of elevating his doormat Packers teams any other way.

As hard as it may be for some to believe, this Bear fan is a Packer fan as well, except when they are playing the Bears, if only because they are one of the few remaining representatives of the kind of football the NFL once played in the frozen mud of November and December. But though the Packers had some dismal teams in the years between Lombardi and Holmgren, the Forrest Gregg-coached teams were truly the most shameful of all.

you guys need to grow up and get over it. How many years have past since that play happened...? enough to know that yes, someone made a mistake and yes, no one else gives a shit anymore. T_H_E B_E_A_R_S S_T_I_L_L S_U_C_K

First, I know its been 5 years since he passed. But to Marcus, my condolences go out to your Aunt and to your Family. A human being died, and we should all think of that before commenting. God IS bigger than football.

Now as for the hit. I am a 49ers fan. I neither love nor hate either team but that is the BIGGEST cheap shot I have ever seen in sports...That includes the Tomjanovich/Washington incident in the NBA.

To say that it was not premeditated is pure horses**t. He had #9 and #34 on his uniform towel.

We Niner fans were a little jealous of Chicago because our team was down a little bit at the time and the Bears had kind of "taken over", but I remember some our fans saying that what Martin did was completely uncalled for.

McMahon was never the same, and it cost the Bears another Super Bowl in 1986.

If that happened to Brady, Brees or P. Manning the player would be thrown out of the league and stand a chance of going to jail these days.